Central Asian cobra: description, reproduction, where it lives

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:43

Quite a large venomous snake belonging to the aspid family - the Central Asian cobra. This is the only species of cobras in our country with a declining number, included in the Red Book of the USSR and the IUCN. There is a misconception that this snake is aggressive - in fact, it never attacks a person first.

Description of the Central Asian cobra

In the territories where this species of reptiles lives, populations are not numerous. Even in the most comfortable places for living (for cobras) in the warm season, it is hardly possible to meet more than two or three individuals per day. The average population density of representatives of the species is no more than 3-5 per square kilometer. The body length of these snakes does not exceed 1.8 meters. It is covered with smooth scales, numbering from 19 to 21 rows. It is not widened on the ridge; there are no apical fossae. There are two, rarely three postorbital plates, as well as one preorbital. There may be from 57 to 73 pairs of undercaudal shields, ventral - from 194 to206.

The upper side of the body can have a different color - from light brown and olive to almost black. The belly is always yellowish. Juveniles can be distinguished by their contrasting ringed coloration. They have black stripes that smoothly pass to the abdomen. With age, the main tone of the color darkens, and the transverse stripes expand and fade, disappearing on the belly. They are replaced by spots and specks.

The head of a medium-sized Central Asian cobra. The body of the snake smoothly passes into a tapering tail. The pupils are round. The main difference from the Indian cobra is the lack of a typical pattern on the hood in the form of glasses. It is necessary to know that the demonstrative threatening defensive posture of this snake is an innate behavioral instinct, and even snakes that have barely hatched from eggs, in any danger, raise their upper body and freeze in this position.

Area and habitats

Now let's figure out where the Central Asian cobra lives. It is quite widespread in the north-west of India, in Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan, in the north-east of Iran, it is less common in the north of Uzbekistan up to the Bel-Tau-Ata mountains, in the south-western regions of Turkmenistan and Tajikistan.

The snake prefers to settle on the slopes of mountains, in dense bushes among stones, on clay and gravelly foothills, in river valleys. In the mountains, the Central Asian cobra, the photo of which we posted in this material, can be found at an altitude of up to two thousand meters. Often she chooses abandoned buildings. You can find this type of cobra in gardens, onirrigated lands, along the edges of fields, along ditches. They also crawl into sandy, waterless deserts, where they stay near colonies of gerbils on the slopes of dunes.

The lifestyle of the Central Asian cobra is distinguished by specific daily activity: in autumn and spring it is more active during the day, in summer it is active in the evening, at night and in the early morning. In the warm season, the cobra settles in the burrows of various rodents near water bodies, in blackberry and ephedra thickets, in deep cracks in the soil, niches and scours under stones.

For wintering, Central Asian cobras prefer to settle in more solid shelters. As a rule, these are deep cracks, which are often located under residential buildings, gerbil burrows. Wintering of this species lasts about six months. It starts at the end of September and continues until the end of March or April. Cobras molt twice a year, in spring and autumn.

Defensive behavior

A disturbed snake takes a characteristic pose - it raises the front part of the body by 1/3 of the total length, straightens the hood and hisses quite loudly. This is a defensive behavior of the Central Asian cobra, which should not be considered as aggression. It is inherent even in very young snakes.

If the person or animal that disturbed the cobra does not respond to the warning, a cobra of this species, unlike its relatives, does not make a kill roll, but tries to scare off the aggressor by inflicting a fake bite on him. To do this, the snake throws the front of the body forward and hits the opponent's head hard. At the same time, her mouth is closed. So sheprotects poisonous teeth from injury.

Cobra Poison

The venom of this species of cobra is extremely toxic - it destroys the blood. It is a complex mixture of proteins with specific biological properties, toxic polypeptides and enzymes. The poison of the Central Asian cobra causes a serious pathological reaction of the body. It affects important organs and systems: the cardiovascular and endocrine, peripheral and central nervous systems, liver and kidneys, blood and blood-forming organs.

When bitten, the venom has a powerful neurotoxic effect. The victim becomes lethargic after being bitten, but soon violent convulsions begin to shake her body. Becomes shallow and quickens breathing. Death caused by paralysis of the respiratory tract occurs after a while.

If a large dose of venom enters the bloodstream, which happens when the bite hits an area near large vessels, hemodynamic shock develops. Tumors, hematomas, and other local manifestations never occur when bitten by this cobra.

The way this snake bites is peculiar. Vipers, for example, with long and very sharp teeth, inflict an instant injection and immediately throw their heads back. The cobra, whose teeth are much shorter, does not hope for a lightning-fast injection. She bites into the victim and does not lean back after being bitten. At the same time, the snake squeezes the jaws on the body of the victim several times with force and, as it were, sorts them out so that its poisonous teeth will surely pierce, and the necessary amount of the strongest poison will be injected into the prey.

Using poison

Cobra venom is used to produce anti-snake sera. Poison neurotoxins are used to study acetylcholine receptors. Anticomplement factors are being used as immunosuppressants in scientific research.

Enzymes of the poison of this species of cobras are used in biochemical experiments. In addition, medicinal preparations are made from it - painkillers and sedatives that are used for diseases of the heart and blood vessels.

Helping the victim after a bite

When bitten by a Central Asian cobra, the victim must urgently provide first aid - introduce polyvalent anti-snake serum or Anticobra serum. It is recommended to use anticholinesterase drugs in combination with atropine, corticosteroids, antihypoxants. With a deep disorder of breathing, artificial ventilation of the lungs is required.

Cobra Enemies

Despite the fact that this species is very dangerous, the Central Asian cobra in nature and itself has serious enemies. Larger reptiles may eat her young. Adults are killed by mongooses and meerkats. It is interesting that these animals, which do not have immunity against the poison of cobras, are very clever at distracting the attention of the snake with false attacks. Choosing the right moment, they deliver a deadly bite to the back of the head. Having met a mongoose or a meerkat on its way, the cobra has no chance of salvation.

Eating the Central Asian cobra

The menu of these reptiles is quite diverse. They Withwith pleasure they feast on birds, amphibians, rodents. It is a large number of the latter that attracts snakes to people's homes. Thus, by eating numerous pests, cobras contribute to the preservation of the crop. True, this fact does not reassure people who are trying in every possible way to get rid of such a dangerous neighbor.

The basis of the diet of most reptiles, including cobras, are amphibians. It could be frogs or toads. They will not refuse to eat smaller reptiles, such as ephs, small boas, lizards, small birds (nightjars and passerines). Quite often they destroy bird clutches.

Reproduction

Cobras of this species become sexually mature by three or four years. The reproduction of the Central Asian cobra has its own characteristics. Mating of individuals occurs in early spring, as a rule, this occurs in early May. The pregnancy lasts a little over two months. In early July, the female lays 6 to 12 oblong-shaped eggs. The weight of each of them ranges from 12 to 19 grams, and their length is no more than 54 mm.

Cubs of the Central Asian cobra hatch from the end of August to the end of September. The cubs are about 40 millimeters long.

Cobra breeding

It is interesting that in the villages of Vietnam, peasants grow cobras at home - having received cubs and growing them to a certain size, they rent them to a serpentarium. There, the kids are fed with pressed sausages, which are prepared from the by-products of fish processing. ATthey add ground toad skin, which is especially loved by cobras. Later, poison is obtained from them, which is used to make various medicines.

In the early eighties of the last century, about 350 representatives of Central Asian cobras were kept in zoos and serpentaria of our country. Successful incubations of egg clutches were carried out, which were obtained from females fertilized in natural conditions. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, these works were curtailed, but today they are being restored.

Cobra Guard

In the natural habitats of this species of cobras, their numbers are low. moreover, there is even a trend towards a further reduction in populations. In this regard, snakes are subject to protection. The situation is more favorable in deserts, although in more humid areas the number of this species is steadily declining. This is due to the destruction of the habitats of these reptiles.

As a rare species, the Central Asian cobra was listed in the Red Books of the Soviet Union (1984), Turkmenistan (1985) and Uzbekistan (1983). This species is protected in the Kopetdag, Badkhyz, Repetek, Syunt-Khasardag reserves, in the Krasnovodsk reserve in the Gasan-Kuliysky area. In Uzbekistan, the species is protected in the Aral-Paygambar and Karakul reserves, and in Tajikistan - on the territory of the Tigrovaya Balka reserve.

Central Asian cobras from 1986 to 1994 were included in the International Red Book as an endangered species. From 1994 to the present day, this species appears on the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)as a species of indeterminate status. This is due to the fact that today this organization does not have data on the population size of the Central Asian cobra. Experts hope that this gap will be filled soon.